Angels center fielder Mike Trout (hamstring) was out of the starting lineup for the first time all season on Thursday, but Manager Mike Scioscia said he could have played if it was a playoff game. (Photo by Kevin Sullivan/SCNG, file)

SEATTLE >> Mike Trout was not in the Angels lineup for the first time this season on Thursday, dealing with a tight hamstring.

Manager Mike Scioscia said it was a “recharge day” and the hamstring tightness isn’t serious.

“If this was a playoff game, he’d be playing,” Scioscia said. “But we’re in a stretch of 42 games in 44 days, so we want to make sure these guys have a chance to recover when they can.”

Trout was the only player from the opening day roster who had played all of the Angels’ first 29 games. He started 28 in center field and one at designated hitter, playing 249 1/3 of a possible 260 1/3 innings in center.

He just won the American League player of the month award and he extended his hitting streak to 16 games with a homer in Wednesday’s game.

Scioscia said he chose to give Trout a day off rather than just have him DH because it was a hamstring issue.

“If you have a sore shoulder, you can maybe go get your at-bats and not throw,” he said. “When it’s a lower extremity issue or something as sensitive as what a player needs to play his whole game, you want to lean toward him getting the day off.”

Last season Trout played 159 of the Angels’ 162 games. Since he reached the majors to stay in April 2012, he has played in more than 97 percent of the games, never missing three in a row.

Valbuena’s role

Luis Valbuena, who waited more than a month to make his season debut because of a hamstring injury, is going to start on the bench in three of his first four games because the Angels were facing left-handed pitchers.

The Seattle Mariners started James Paxton on Tuesday and Ariel Miranda on Thursday, and Houston’s Dallas Keuchel will start against them on Friday in Anaheim.

Valbuena has a career .721 OPS against righties, compared with .667 against lefties. He has had some seasons in which his numbers against lefties were very poor, but last year he managed a .741 OPS in 88 plate appearances against lefties.

“I made some adjustments,” he said. “I was working on a new approach. I worked a lot.”

Jefry Marte got the starts at first against lefties in the Seattle series. When C.J. Cron comes off the disabled list, it will be him or Marte against lefties, unless Valbuena can work his way into a full-time role.

Also

Ricky Nolasco said he felt fine on Thursday, a day after feeling some cramping in his right calf during his start. Nolasco said he’s anticipating making his next start, on Monday in Oakland. Scioscia said the Angels would “continue to monitor him.”… The Angels optioned Brooks Pounders to make room for Alex Meyer, who was promoted to replace Tyler Skaggs in the rotation.

Jeff Fletcher has covered the Angels since 2013. Before that, he spent 11 years covering the Giants and A's and working as a national baseball writer. Jeff is a Hall of Fame voter. In 2015, he was elected chairman of the Los Angeles chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America.